


Skatetown, USA

by kadabralin



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1990s, M/M, Meet-Cute, Rivals to Lovers, Rollerblades & Rollerskates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2020-09-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:39:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26472757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kadabralin/pseuds/kadabralin
Summary: Michael attends the all-night skate for the chance to win tickets to the Jeff Buckley concert but runs into his (probably one-sided) rival, Jeremy Heere. Who will win?Michael, obviously.Early birthday fic for my date mate. <3
Relationships: Jeremy Heere/Michael Mell
Comments: 6
Kudos: 51





	Skatetown, USA

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ihopealiensbelieveinme](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ihopealiensbelieveinme/gifts).



The year was 1999, the loudspeakers were blaring House of Pain's _Jump Around_ for the third time, and Michael was staring at a pair of Hello Kitty roller skates that weren't his.

The all-night skate had started at 8 PM and Michael was taking a break after 3 hours of continuous skating. The rink had been crowded at the beginning, packed full of overconfidence and the stench of determination. There were prizes handed out throughout the night, but it was the final prize everyone was after; two tickets to the upcoming Jeff Buckley concert. The turnout had dwindled to nearly half already and only the real competition remained. Michael was determined to skate right up until the 7 AM finish line. He was prepared. He spent every Saturday here, building up his stamina, on his way to becoming a skating legend. 

Or, at least, a local New Jersey cryptid. 

He wasn’t worried about everyone else. Most of them weren’t even regulars, with skates rented from the front counter. They were here because they’d seen the TV adverts and thought they had what it took to win. It was a fool’s errand, honestly, but Michael respected their efforts. It would be a monotonous event without a sense of friendly competition to add an edge to the victory. He could already taste the win. There were only eight hours remaining. A cakewalk.

Michael’s only real problem was the guy in the Hello Kitty skates. 

He was also a regular, and always came on Saturdays, and had his own pair of professional roller skates, which meant he took the game seriously. This pair was new, though. White, with blue stripes, and Hello Kitty’s face printed on the sides. Michael had decided that this was an outright display of confidence, a flagrant challenge, taunting Michael every time they skated past him. If he hoped to win the tickets, he had to beat his rival. He didn’t even know his name, and the rivalry might be completely one-sided, but neither of those things mattered. They had the stamina of a horse and could easily outskate Michael in a trial of endurance, but Michael had been watching him every Saturday. He knew his weaknesses, too.

He was clumsy, easily distracted, and always vacated the rink when the disc jockey played Eminem.

All of these things were something Michael could work with to ensure his victory. 

Now, he needed to get back onto the rink and earn it.

Michael stood up to return to his rightful place amongst the other skaters, right as the lights dimmed, and House of Pain switched over to Alanis Morissette.

Fuck.

It was time for the couple’s skate.

Michael sat back down in disappointment. There weren’t many couples here, but the couples skate was a mandatory obligation for every event, and he could wait. It was only two songs. This only meant more time to recuperate. He stuffed his hands into the front pockets of his hoodie and inconspicuously watched as his rival stepped off the rink nearby and moved in his direction, no doubt to the bathroom. Michael pulled his feet back to make room, since taking out his opponent by tripping wasn’t exactly sportsmanlike, but it all proved pointless.

One of his laces was untied. 

Neither of them noticed until it was too late. 

The guy in the Hello Kitty skates rolled over one of his own laces, tripped, and began to roll wildly out of control. He squeaked loudly in surprise, grappled at the air, and the wall, in a vain attempt to steady himself, and instead, half-skated-half hopped directly into Michael’s lap.

“Shit! Fuck! F- _fuck_ shit, sorry! Oh my god.” 

Despite Michael’s attempt to lessen the impact with his hands, it was all elbows and knees crashing together, painful and awkward. The other skater's hand was shoved in his face, knocking Michael’s glasses off his face. 

“ _Sorry sorry sorry._ ” He finally righted himself and sat down right next to Michael, mumbling _Jesus fucking Christ_ under his breath. “Are you o-okay?” He bent down to hastily retie his skate, avoiding any and all eye contact.

Not that Michael could really see, considering his glasses were hanging on by a single ear. 

“Yeah, I’m fine. Are _you_?” Michael put his glasses back on, pulled them off, cleaned the lenses with the bottom of his hoodie, and replaced them again. 

“Yeah, I’m, uh, I’m a-alright. Nothing’s broken. Uh…” He leaned back against the wall, hands pressed to his face. “Jesus, you must think I’m a f-fucking idiot.”

“Not really.” Michael had had his own share of falls in the past. He wasn’t _that_ full of himself. “I already knew you were a klutz, though.” He kept his tone light and teasing. There was no reason to make the mortification worse.

He peeked at Michael a little, then dropped his hands to his lap with a shaky, embarrassed laugh. “R-right.”

“At least you fell on me and not the floor. I’m way cushier. You could kill someone with your knees, though. Are they made of lead?”

This time he laughed more heartily as he absently rubbed his knees. “N-no… I’m Jeremy, by the way. I see you here all the time. I can’t believe we’ve n-never talked before.” His rival, Jeremy, chewed the corner of his lip nervously.

“You’re always with your girlfriend, thought it’d be weird to introduce myself.”

“G-girlfriend?” Jeremy’s eyes widened in confusion.

“Uh, yeah, the short girl with the black hair? Likes to spin around until she pukes?”

“Oh! Y-you mean Christine. Right, uh, she’s not my… n-not my girlfriend. Just a friend. Regular friend.” Jeremy had blushed a deep shade of pink, fidgeting with the sleeves of his cardigan. Michael realized he was staring at Jeremy’s face and forced himself to look away, ignoring the blush of his own.

“Okay, regular friend. Was she not up to the challenge tonight?”

“She wanted to come, but she had play rehearsal, and they don’t let anyone in past ten, so…” Jeremy frowned. 

“Play rehearsal runs that late?”

“To midnight, usually, I think.”

“What the fuck.”

Jeremy only shrugged. “K-kind of sucks. It’s more fun when you’re, um, when you’re skating with someone.”

Michael had always liked skating alone. He was always alone, in general. It couldn’t be _that_ much better.

“I can be your skating buddy tonight if you want.” _Something something keep your enemies closer_ , Michael thought to himself.

“R-really?” Jeremy looked surprised but pleased. “Even though I almost broke your everything?”

“Give yourself some credit. You might be ungraceful, but you’re still a better skater than I am.”

He looked incredulous. “Seriously? Cause I’ve seen you skate, dude, and I can’t do half the shit you can.”

Michael smiled, both smug and flattered. “I didn’t think I had fans.”

“Are you kidding? You’re amazing!” Jeremy smiled, then seemed to reel his enthusiasm back in. “Plus you’re k-kinda hard to miss with the red hoodie and everything. It’s hot as f-fuck, why are you always wearing it?”

Michael’s smile widened. He looked around carefully for any wandering eyes, then hunched over slightly as he pulled a bag of Butterfinger BB’s from the front pocket. “Contraband.” Outside food and beverages were prohibited. That’s what the pricey food court was for. “Why do you always wear stripes?”

“I don’t always… wear… stripes.” Jeremy trailed off as he looked down at himself with something akin to horror. “Oh my g-god, I _do_.” This realization seemed to rock Jeremy’s entire world for a full two minutes. Michael laughed for the full entirety of it.

“W-whatever! What else do you have in there? It’s a big pocket.” Jeremy scrubbed at his face as if it could somehow slough off the blush permanently baked into his skn.

Michael slipped out a Ninja Turtle Pudding Pie from the other side.

“W-Woah, wait, weren’t those discontinued?” 

“I also have several boxes of Nintendo Cereal System at home.”

“Holy shit,” Jeremy said, clearly impressed. “Where’d you even get it?”

“I have a hookup at Spencer’s Gifts.”

“Wow.” Jeremy eyed the items until Michael stuffed them back inside their hiding spot. “I’d be too scared to eat them.”

“That’s because you’re a coward.”

Jeremy pouted slightly, causing Michael to grin stupidly. “No, I’m not.”

“Fine, then duel me.”

“What?”

“Battle to the death on the roller rink, last man standing win’s the tickets. No takesies-backsies.”

Jeremy blinked at him a few times, then pushed himself up, determination plastered on his face. “You’re on, uh… um…”

Michael realized he’d never introduced himself before grilling Jeremy about his not-girlfriend.

“Michael.”

“You’re on, Michael.”

Now it was a _real_ rivalry, and he was thrilled.

* * *

Jeremy had been right. Roller skating _was_ more fun with someone else. He could barely believe it.

Plus Jeremy was funny, and nerdy, and had Morpheus’ entire monologue from _The Matrix_ memorized, and…

Michael was pretty sure he’d developed a crush. Or already had one. Either way, it wasn’t very conducive to his plan to win, and he hoped his growing infatuation wasn’t obvious.

They collapsed on the bench together at 4 AM, with three hours remaining, and Michael was starting to have regrets.

“Jesus fuck my legs hurt,” Jeremy whined beside him, between mouthfuls of cheese-covered nachos.

Michael slumped back against the wall, willing the blue raspberry slushie he was drinking to give him a second wind. It wasn’t working. “I think I have a blister. Or multiple blisters. My blisters have blisters.”

“I’m going to be skating in my s-sleep,” Jeremy continued. 

“If I hear Ice Ice Baby one more time I’m going to fight the disc jockey.”

“Why did we do this again?” Jeremy licked cheese from his fingers.

“Uuuh, Jeff Buckley and bragging rights?”

“How much longer do we have?”

“Three hours.”

“Augh,” Jeremy groaned, setting his nachos aside. “I’m going back in.” Jeremy stood up slowly, eyed the rink wearily, and immediately sat back down. “Fuck it, never mind.” 

“Looks like I’ll be the winner after all.” Michael took a long sip of his slushie.

They sat in silence for a moment.

“How are you w-winning if you’re not moving?”

“I’m working up to it!”

Jeremy snickered and leaned back into a more comfortable position. Someone had been handing out blankets and he’d snagged one, draping it over their legs. Michael didn’t protest.

“This was fun,” he said.

Michael peeled his eyes away from the stranglers on the rink to look at Jeremy. “Were you expecting otherwise?”

“I wasn’t going to come but Christine, uh, th-threatened me, so I had to.” Jeremy flushed a little. “Wasn’t really fun until I ran into you.”

Literally. Jeremy had literally run into him. Or more like skated. Whatever. Michael laughed weakly, suddenly all nerves. “So do you wanna, like, hang out after this, or…?”

“Yes!” Jeremy practically yelled. The flush on his face deepened with embarrassment. “Um. We could go and see that… Th-that Iron Giant movie? It’s going to be in theaters soon, right?” He paused. “O-or we could see something else, whatever,” he added, as if Iron Giant _wasn’t_ a good option.

“What could possibly top the most likely highest-grossing film of the year?”

Jeremy laughed. “K-kind of a high bar.”

“Fine. Second highest, behind Phantom Menace.”

He rolled his eyes and elbowed Michael gently in the side.

They fell into a comfortable silence, snacks and drinks obliterated, watching the remaining skaters do loop after loop around the rink. Michael had propped himself against the corner of the bench, back pressed comfortably into the wall, and Jeremy had shifted closer to better share the blanket. Their shoulders were touching. Jeremy’s hand briefly brushed against his own.

Michael’s stomach fluttered. He decided not to comment on it. Instead, he pulled out the final item nestled in his hoodie pocket: his Walkman. He put one of the earbuds in and offered the other to Jeremy, who took it gratefully. Anything was better than the same Top 20 Hits over and over again. Or the YMCA. Or the Chicken Dance.

They never played Bob Marley at the roller rink.

“Y-you know we’re basically disqualified if we fall asleep, r-right?” Jeremy asked, nestling in just a little closer.

“I’m not going to fall asleep, man,” Michael said, confidently. “I’m gonna win.”

They both fell asleep.

Michael wasn’t even mad about it.

The 7 AM sun was almost blinding after eleven hours of disco lights. Jeremy groggily rubbed the sleep from his eyes where he stood beside Michael, both of them waiting for their parents to pick them up. Actually, Michael had driven himself here, but he wasn’t about to leave Jeremy here alone. 

“I g-got this game at this weird shop the other day, called _Apocalypse of the Damned._ ” Jeremy fussed with his cardigan again. He did it a lot, Michael had noticed. “I haven’t, you know, p-played it yet, but you can come over anytime and do that. If you want.”

“ _Hell_ yeah I do.” Michael grinned at him, and Jeremy smiled back. 

“Oh, that’s my, uh, my dad.” Jeremy waved awkwardly at the white minivan slowly approaching. “Guess I’ll see you?”

They’d already exchanged phone numbers and screen names. It turned out Jeremy didn’t live too far from him, but his neighborhood had been regulated to a different school district. Michael couldn’t help but feel disappointed.

“Yeah, see you, dude.”

Jeremy stepped off the curb to walk toward the approaching car, but he abruptly spun around and stepped close enough to pull Michael into a hug. It was quick, and maybe it’d been his imagination, but Michael was 97% positive that Jeremy had pressed his mouth against his cheek. Before he could think about it too much, Jeremy had pulled away, fleeing towards the safety of the minivan. “Okay bye!”

Michael rubbed his cheek absently, tingling from head to foot.

 _I can’t believe I fell for my rival,_ Michael thought. _What a clique._


End file.
